IDEA Personal Trainer Institute™ Fun and Educational for All

May 24, 2012

Fitness Forum

Thanks so much for the opportunity to volunteer at this IDEA conference! I had a really great time both assisting and attending the sessions. Your staff and volunteers were great to work with, the presenters were informative and personable and the schedule was well done. I’d definitely rate the whole weekend as excellent!

Chrissy Schneider Group Fitness Instructor Purcellville, Virginia

I returned today from another great IDEA Personal Trainer Institute. I witnessed yet again what a great organization IDEA is. I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating: I would not be half the trainer I am today without IDEA!

Karin Singleton Personal Trainer Raleigh, North Carolina

Thank you for inviting me to participate in another successful IDEA Personal Trainer Institute. It was an honor to have the opportunity to interact with the attendees and learn from the other speakers.This is always one of my favorite events of the year, and it more than lived up to my expectations. I’ll look forward to seeing you again at the IDEA World Fitness Convention™!

Pete McCall ACE Exercise Physiologist San Diego, California

Breathing and Diaphragm Strength: A Winning Topic

Congratulations to Nicole Nelson on her fantastic, to-the-point article on the importance of the breath and strength of the diaphragm [Ex Rx, March 2012]. I’ve never seen such a succinct and helpful article on the subject. Exercise instructors and therapists need to understand better how important the strength of the diaphragm is for trunk stability and function. This article focuses on this point “in spades.”

Just wanted to say that I have received several leads from your site. Whatever you’re doing to draw traffic is working. Thank you!

Tina Anderson Mission Viejo, California

Public Health and Fitness Professionals

Thank you to Peter N. Francis, PhD, who wrote the timely article, “Is there a Public Health Role for Fitness Professionals?” [January 2012]. Since working at the University of South Florida’s Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice (located within the College of Public Health), I have been reflecting on ways to shift my own career focus to better integrate with the roles of public health professionals. In our current economic times, public health is seeing greater budget cuts in staffing and services. This article not only illustrated the impact that fitness pros can have in public health; [it also encouraged readers to consider] opportunities and new ventures in this faield. Full of examples and additional resources, this article was a reminder that we are so much more than athletes or gym rats. There is a broad range of industries that can benefit from our expertise—and that is incredibly exciting!

Biray Alsac, MS Charlotte, North Carolina

Inspiring Around the Globe

I am an Australian with a degree in exercise science who manages a health club in Phuket, Thailand. IDEA has been a tremendous source of education, motivation and inspiration for me over the last 20 years in my career. Now you do the same for my staff at RPM Health Club; they are constantly trying to learn more in every area of the health and fitness industry while still learning English. I very much look forward to making it over [to the U.S.] for an IDEA conference one day soon—it’s been a 20-year dream!

Darren Hancock General Manager, RPM Health Club Phuket, Thailand

Help for Pros With Small Equipment Budgets

I’ve been a certified instructor and IDEA member for more than 25 years. I enjoy your magazine and all the information you send me, but there is something missing. Please help the [many] of us who do not have the wealth to purchase equipment and who have to improvise and be extremely creative! Please focus some articles on this! We all wish we had the big bucks, but we don’t. [Many of us] serve low-income people who cannot afford expensive [equipment] to stay fit.

Editor’s note: Our January Mind-Body-Spirit News Question of the Month asked for examples of the ongoing wellness education you offer your clients. Here are some readers’ ideas:

I strongly believe in educating my clients on why good habits are beneficial to them. Since 2008 my business has sponsored free monthly informative sessions that are open to both clients and the community. Topics are varied. These sessions have grown through the years and include hearing professional speakers from our community; taking field trips to health food stores such as Whole Foods® (we have to travel about 50 miles); going as a group to local and out-of-town lectures/workshops; attending a mindful and healthy luncheon where everyone made a wonderful, tasty dish; watching a DVD relevant to health; or me sharing a piece of important information that I felt was beneficial. The response has been very good overall. I usually get about half of my clients to take advantage of these sessions. I plan on continuing this as a free benefit as long as I am able.

JoAnne Maloney New Middleton, Ohio

I offer hypnotherapy sessions in addition to personal training and massage therapy services. Sometimes I integrate hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming into personal training sessions. Most often, I will end the session with traditional hypnosis and give clients suggestions to practice at home upon waking or just before falling asleep. Hypnosis is the easiest way to a client’s subconscious. I have been doing this method of integration, called HypnoFit, since 1998.

Claudia Micco Haiku, Hawaii

I have been in private practice as a mind-body personal trainer, life coach and small-business coach for 14 years. I added life coaching services to my practice the first year I became a personal trainer to help clients learn how to integrate the health and lifestyle habits we were working on into their lives on their own. While my initial training was as a life coach, I have since added emotional eating coaching and wellness coaching to my practice. I am now qualified to share a wide variety of additional tools with my yoga, Pilates and personal training clients. These tools include goal-setting around both behavior change and emotional processes, building important resources and having accountability around the stages of significant lifestyle changes.

All of my clients receive some sort of coaching integrated into their programs. I highly recommend that all wellness professionals gain some training in coaching as part of their practice. You’ll enjoy what you learn, your clients will achieve greater successes, and the process will be even more positive for all!

I’ve been a certified personal trainer since 1990—things have changed!

I found the article, “Fitness More Important Than Weight for Mortality Risk” [Making News, March 2012], interesting and will read the [complete] study in Circulation.

I have two older-adult clients who, in the past 2 years, just can’t seem to lose weight. We’ve tried different intervals, etc. Both people have been under stress from different things. In both cases, we decided to concentrate on simply keeping them strong and moving, and to forget the weight. I can’t wait to read the study and share the good news. Thanks for reporting it.